


Picking it up

by SaluWriter



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (But he actually doesn’t know how to help this time... like a teenager-), (Lol he actually gets one), (but he had no idea what he wasn’t doing!), (he succeeds!), (hooray- I’ll stop 😂), Crying, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Men Crying, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker tries to help, Platonic Relationships, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Soft Peter Parker, Stress Relief, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24141889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaluWriter/pseuds/SaluWriter
Summary: The man let his pen drop from his hands. The tip scratching on the thin piece of paper, a thin ink line going across some of his equations before settling, rolling, and dropping onto the tile floor of his lab.He merely blinked, too tired to care, yet so emotional that- it was suddenly the only thing he could think about.‘I dropped the pen, I should pick it up...’ORTony has a breakdown.And Peter manages just to come in at the right time to witness it.He actually has no idea what to do, he’s even scared of helping, dare he admit it.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 158





	Picking it up

**Author's Note:**

> This came from my stress of working too much for homework- since teachers gave us more hw for us to do instead of evening out the work.
> 
> Thanks Quarantine.
> 
> But- also gave me the idea of the whole Tony having breakdown, helped by Peter trope.
> 
> I thought- What would I do if an adult was breaking down...
> 
> ...  
> I wouldn’t know I’m only a teenager...
> 
> And then, it hit me.
> 
> Enjoy this fanfic.  
> (Btw if there’s mistakes I’m sorry I’m rushing on a school day -.-)

A state of extreme physical or mental fatigue, exhaustion. Now that’s a word Tony knew very well.

The man let his pen drop from his hands. The tip scratching on the thin piece of paper, a thin ink line going across some of his equations before settling, rolling, and dropping onto the tile floor of his lab. 

He merely blinked, too tired to care, yet so emotional that- it was suddenly the only thing he could think about.   
_‘I dropped the pen, I should pick it up. The pen slipped- no dropped from my hands, I should pick it up. My hands hurt too much, but I have to-’_

In the end, he merely exhaled, slumping even more in his chair.

Howard Stark, and Maria Stark. Sometimes the love of his mother would usually override to not hate her, but this time he couldn’t help himself. A painful headache just came and ran over him, his eyes went shut and he let a groan escape, pursing his lips together after.

His two parents barely knew how to parent… That’s what he realized.

He remembered how he would try and get their attention, showing the amount of work he had been putting in his future ideas for the Stark Industry, his personal new inventions, his studies, his piano lessons, anything honestly. He wanted to show them how much he worked, how hard he had reached his goal.

His mother would only give him a soft smile, softly saying good work before diving back into her book on the expensive couch. Howard wouldn’t even look at his works, only paying attention at his rough ideas for the industry before shooing it away, saying it was too bland, too much, or just plain stupid.

Tony never knew how to cope with this. He would just go in his bedroom and cry, throw his pillow across the room, shattering something expensive, and just go back to hiding underneath the sheets.

He cried so much, too much, to a point where he was just tired of crying.

So merely, whenever he was alone, knowing another breakdown was going to occur, he let it happen. He timed it, it was sort of a scheduled thing. He’d cry for fifteen minutes straight, before he forced himself up, and grabbed a pen, a tool, his laptop or even his phone…

And worked.

It made him feel like he was productive. He didn’t feel useless or stupid for wasting his time crying instead. He made himself feel useful. So much so, he slowly started to stop showing his latest projects and ideas, Once he was finished with one, he would tear up knowing it wouldn’t be shown to anyone who’d be willing enough to notice, before he shook it off, and immediately started on his next project.

It was a cycle, something that he knew was going to be one that was going to be almost impossible to break. But he always thought, was that such a bad thing?

Years later, he took over S.I. Only rich people saw his work, only people who wanted something out of it listened to his plans. He didn’t feel his work getting any of the recognition he wanted. At this point, the next phase of his cycle would be to tear up…

But he’s Tony Stark, he can’t do that in front of an audience…  
So he didn’t.

He didn’t even cry later, he’s just kept it in.

A few years later, Ironman came to the mix. Not only were his inventions getting useless criticisms from investors, but he was also getting feedback from the whole city of New York.

Too destructive, too dangerous, too irresponsible.

The news outlets would come sometimes come swarming around him, asking him what he thought of people giving him this type of feedback. Yet, once again, he was Tony Stark. He merely shook his head a smirked, “I could handle some criticisms.” He joked, showing off a proud smile. He had to make sure he was wearing his tinted glasses though because he could never say that line and show it was the truth through his eyes.

The dam would eventually break though. It would happen suddenly in his lab, he would just break down crying too hard. His inner timer would count the nine-hundred seconds of sobs, before picking himself up and quickly grabbing onto anything he could latch onto first. If he could work with it, that was fine with him.

Pepper and Happy always mistook his red eyes and large eyebags from staying up too late, devoted to his creations. This was true in a way, he does stay up too long from time to time, almost twice weekly he will pull an all-nighter. But sometimes, those eyebags came from crying too much, from working for a full five hours, before the clock resets, and the next fifteen minutes of crying would start. 

This was one of those days.

He hadn’t noticed when he started crying, he hadn’t really noticed when he walked to his desk, blindly shoving things away to find something to work on. He found a stack of paper and a pen. This was very unnatural to him, he would rather use a tablet, F.R.I.D.A.Y, or his laptop to take down notes and create new ideas.

But he was desperate, and he couldn’t help himself. 

He tried once to stop, he remembered it vividly. He actually turned off all of his notifications from his work. He pushed away and turned off anything he knew he would be able to work with, before walking on over to the kitchen, creating a good breakfast, and watching T.V.  
There was so much stress that was lifted off of his shoulders that day, it felt good, to just have a day for himself. He did feel anxious about doing nothing, the twitching anxiety coursing through his veins, making him feel uncomfortable just staring at the screen.

But he forced himself to take the break he needed, and he did…

He woke up the next morning to find Pepper mad at him for missing some important meetings. Happy was also angered at the fact that the paparazzi had swarmed him instead as the famous Mr. Stark wasn’t out of his room. The R&D department gave him many warnings of not to slack off on his creations…

For just because he’s a Stark, doesn’t mean he could take advantage of his time.

There was more stress on that day than any other regular workday. He hadn’t taken a break since.

The pulsing headache clouded his vision for the entire time. He felt hot, his mouth felt sticky and his eyes burned with the remaining tears still trapped inside. It was only when he dropped his pen, he noticed he had involuntary scratched himself with his free hand, letting his short nails dig into his skin and cause some blood to drip on the floor.

He bit his lip, tired eyes staring at the cut on his forearm.

He looked up at the time.

7:13… in the morning.   
He didn’t know what time he started his work, he figured it was hours ago, seeing the stack of papers were now littered around him, filled with useless equations that came from his head. 

Exhaustion. 

He didn’t bother looking around, he knew the mess was there, he knew he had to clean it up eventually…

His breath hitched, and he slowly felt tears trail down his face. Yet the cries were emotionless. They were filled with anger, for his stupidity of the habit. Sorrow, for the fact he knew he was so tired, so done of living in the world at certain times of the day. Frustration, cause still, after years and years of waiting, no one had found out how much of a mess he was, how much he longed for some praise of not being Tony Stark, but just being himself. Yet, he would dissimulate all of this. He shouldn’t let anyone know of this. 

It wasn’t right, it shouldn’t be right to tell anyone about this. Of how tired he was of just… working…

But he didn’t stop… He didn’t want to stop feeling useless.

 _‘Oh…’_ He thought, blinking through his tears in realization.  
Five hours ago, his inner timer had reminded him.

He started working around 2:00 then.

* * *

Peter did hummed in confusion, knowing Tony always had met him in the living room on Saturdays. The teenager quietly dropped his bag near one the kitchen stools, before he walked to the hallway, leading down to the elevator.

He tilted his head up to the ceiling, biting his lip as anxiety coursed through his veins, “H-Hey, Friday?”

The A.I. quickly picked up on the boy’s voice, “Yes Mr. Parker?”

Peter looked around, “Do you know where Mr. Stark is?”

The A.I. was silent after this, seemingly thinking of an answer if the A.I. could think anyways. Merely instead of a reply, the elevator doors opened. Peter looked at the sliding doors in confusion before he timidly walked in, rubbing his arms up and down to keep his nerves at bay.

He never was alone at the tower, never much for five minutes anyways. Even if Tony said he had a full range of where he wanted to go, he knew his inner teenage self could never be trusted to be alone for long. He didn’t want to mess anything up. 

“Boss is in his lab… He isn’t in very good shape.”

Peter blinked, “W-What? Is he hurt?” He asked worriedly, eyes widening as he concentrated on his senses, wondering if the danger was still in the building. 

“Not exactly…”

It was then the elevator stopped rising, signaling they had reached the lab floor, yet Peter was still trapped inside, the sliding doors still shut closed.

“Friday?”

The A.I. replied in a hushed tone, almost as if she was trying to hide from Tony Stark, maybe she was, “Mr. Parker… Boss isn’t emotionally well, he’s been like this since 2:11 A.M.”

Peter immediately stopped focusing on his senses, and merely, his whole body became slack, eyes filled with worry. “Fr-Please let me see Mr. Stark.” He said pleadingly, wanting to see if there was a way he can help.

Without another word, the elevator doors slowly slid open. Peter gulped and quickly walked out, heading down to the lab doors of the place. Before he could even think about typing in the code to walk in, Friday quickly switched the locked open. Peter nodded and smiled, hoping the A.I. would understand it as a silent “thank you.”

The boy quickly opened the glass doors, only to see papers of math equations littered all over the room. The teen’s brows furrowed in worry when he spotted the man, slouched over, staring at a half filled sheet, pen nearby the seat on the floor.

As quiet as he could be, wandered through the mess, trying to get a better look at his mentor’s face.  
He regretted his actions.

His eyes were red, the eyebags around them were very visible, while his skin was still looking sticky from the tears and sweat. He looked lost, merely staring off into space as his lips muttered softly. Peter pressed his lips and focused on the muddled words that barely reached his ears. 

“Should pick the pen… up. Need to keep working- not good enough. I should stop… useless… I should pick the pen up-”

The muttering continued, making barely any sense. It was then the boy froze, not knowing what to do to help. He thought about calling Happy or Pepper who were surely working in the building, but he thought otherwise. F.R.I.D.A.Y. didn’t bother contacting them for a reason, yet she let Peter in the lab without a problem.

His breath hitched, knowing the A.I. knows more about this citation than him. He’d have to help.

But… **_how_**?

His body slightly shook at seeing the man like this. He knew Tony had problems, heck everyone did. But he wasn’t blind to Tony, he knew when he was having a bad day, he knew when he was too busy or slightly more agitated, no matter how hard he tries to settle his mask one. Peter just… seemed to sense something about the man, whether if it was good or bad.

But, he had no idea how to fix the man’s situations.

He thought of what May would do if he had a bad day. If he had one, he would usually want some comforting words, a presence there telling him he wasn’t alone, a nice warm hug…

He pursed his lips. Tony wasn’t known for any of those interactions.

Yet he still had to try right?

Peter slowly walked through the scattered papers on the floor, making sure he wouldn’t accidentally slip on them. He let a quiet sigh escape for his lips, feeling his anxiety bubble in his stomach.

He had to help…

“M-Mr. Stark?”

The man seemed to finally blink, before his head whipped up, tears slowly streaming from his eyes. He opened his mouth in shock before he quickly reached to his face, wiping the tears and sweat away quickly as if he was trying to hide it.

More tears streamed down anyways.

“Mr. Stark-” Peter said more confidently, making sure he was heard. He placed a cautious hand on the man’s shoulder, causing for him to stop his scrambling in his seat and look up at the boy, looking fearful and lost.

The teenager swallowed, not knowing how to continue the conversation. For once he felt slightly uncomfortable with the fact that the man was just below his height due to him sitting down at his seat. He suddenly wished he didn’t have to look at the man down.  
“It’s o-ok sir… er… I promise I won’t tell Pepper or-or mention this late-”

He was cut off. He yelped in surprise when he was forcefully pulled into a hug, strong arms wrapping around his back tightly. Peter felt Tony’s face bury into his neck in an awkward position, his tears pricking his neck as his hot shuddering breath suddenly warmed up his whole body.

Peter, didn’t _know what **to do**_.

He felt the man cry on, taking in shuddering breaths before breaking down into quiet broken sobs again. The kid looked down to see the man’s body quiver, seeing how his t-shirt clung onto his from the sweat he had been producing. He blinked in confusion before he slowly wrapped his arms around the man as well, hoping what he was doing was somewhat helpful.

The hug only grew tighter, yet it was a very comfortable hug, other than the fact hot breath and tears were going down his neck. It was uncomfortable, a bit disgusting, but it was something that his mind… didn’t really process as such. It was more of… uncomfortable, because it was wrong. Disgusting… because this wasn’t Tony Stark, well, the one he knew anyways.

The one he knew wasn’t press Tony Stark either. Is was the egoistic, yet full of love mentor. The engineer who was full of dedication, devotion, and motivation. The billionaire… who acted more of a father to him than an actual rich businessman.

Crying, shaking, broken, Tony Stark… wasn’t one he’d met before.

He looked around the room, noticing it had dimmed a bit, probably due to F.R.I.D.A.Y. taking control over the lights. Peter then looked down at Tony, who was starting to calm down slightly, but his shaking never ceased.

He was scared, he caught that. If he was scared… he should… comfort him… right?   
But Tony wasn’t one to take comfort in that easily.

He then remembered his voice recordings. He had caught the man listening to one of them when he walked into the living room one day. Obviously the man had quickly shut down the recordings and quickly disregarded the idea of even listening to his “childish yaps about churros and old ladies,” But Peter had already heard it.

So… just maybe…

“That… That old lady was there again today.”

He felt the man stiffen underneath him, he didn’t know if he was doing the right thing, but he continued anyway.   
“I feel like it’s just.. P-part of her daily schedule now… to give me churros at the end of my patrols.” He let out a quiet chuckle, slowly and gently letting his hands brush up and down the man’s back. 

“There were these criminals today- don’t worry I didn’t got hurt.” He licked his lips before continuing, “There were stealing from a mom, the teen tried to chase after him but he quickly got pushed down… I-I used the new upgrades on the suit you gave me.” He felt the man breathe in, before pressing his face even closer to Peter’s neck, his cold nose and hot forehead making him shiver. 

“Th-They worked out so well!” Peter said with a smile, “I-I know like- you always create amazing things, b-but like- these webs were- r-really cool!” He stuttered out, knowing his fanatic self would crawl out to gush about the new web upgrades.

“The magnetic webs- They immediately latched onto the guns! A-And they were neutralized so fast it-it was so cool!” He exclaimed, letting a bright smile appear on his face. 

“Honestly Mr. Stark… you… you really work hard on those upgrades don’t you?”

He heard the man hum quietly, and Peter took it as a good sign. Calloused hands reached up to his curls, his fingers starting to get tangled with his thick curls. The boy took the noise and gesture as a yes, and he continued on. 

“I-I… I always looked up to you Mr. Stark.” He muttered quietly, realizing he was confessing his idolization to him. He figured it would make his ego grow even more, but he knew how much the man liked his ego being served to him. He’d allow it to grow just this once.

“Like… I remember seeing you on T.V… before B-Ben... “ He breathed in deeply, feeling the man take in gulping breaths of air in between his neck. 

“I didn’t care if you were practically my family’s rival… w-with the whole Stark and Oscorp.. Thing.. You just- You’re amazing Mr. Stark.”

He felt a shy smile slowly start to waver on his lips. His senses started buzzing softly, but in a good way. The man was finally relaxing, his breaths were becoming more controlled. His mentor was becoming whole again.

“I didn’t care much for your weapons of course- b-but… your inventions!-” He exclaimed, feeling a tingle of excitement in his chest, “Your latest features on drone production… Oh! And the anti-gravity device! I remember that!... Do-Do you even still have that?”

Suddenly an idea formed in his head, and he almost laughed at it, “W-Wait what if we put that device in my suit- Mr. Stark that would be so cool! Like I can just walk on any ceiling taking the bad guys with me- I can fully fight upside with gravity like pulling me down again! Wouldn’t that be awesome Mr. Stark-”

He heard a wet chuckle come from underneath his head. Hot breath once again flushed over his neck, he felt the tears cool on his neck as the man finally backed away. Peter suddenly lost all of his confidence, and he stood still as a rod, seeing the man’s face come into view.

He saw tears were still in the man’s lashes, eyes fully wet and still watery. His eye bags were a deep shade of purple, and his skin and hair looked like a mess. Peter shivered at the coolness now hitting his neck, feeling the individual tears slowly trail down his neck. He fought the urge to wipe them away.

Tony blinked slowly, weary, looking dazed and lost. His mouth quivered open, and the boy anxiously waited for him to speak up…

“...Y-You d-do know you ca-an fight u-upside down alr-ready?”

Peter blinked, not expecting the man’s voice to be all broken up and shaky. It took him a moment to process what he said, before he could a nervous smile, “Well yeah! But like- wouldn’t it just be cool to click a button and just immediately flip gravitational pulls midair? Like that would freak everyone ou-”

He was interrupted by Tony’s soft chuckles. He blinked and showed a soft smile, finally relieved to see him smiling. 

“H-have I ever to-old you... “ He took in a quick breath in, settling his quivering voice, “how you’re such a-a good kid Pete?”

Peter stared at him, not knowing how to reply. A soft blush spread across his cheek, and he ducked down slightly, trying to hide his face from the man, “N… no….?”

Tony chuckled once again, “You’re a good kid, a really good kid Peter.”

His eyes widened at hearing his name. He opened his mouth to point out the change, yet the man had settled his hand on his shoulder, the same place where he settled his face a few minutes ago. The man’s eyes slightly widened, and he recoiled from the touch.

“Mr. Stark?”

The man stood up without a word, placing a gentle hand on Peter’s back as he led him down to his private rooms with shaky steps. He was scared of the thought that he would just collapse midway… wherever he was leading him too.

They stopped in front of his bedroom, quickly leading him inside, before leaving him alone as he entered his bathroom, exiting with a wipe and… an MIT shirt?

His eyes looked dead once again, tired and… angered. Without warning the man had placed the wipe on Peter’s neck, and the boy jumped from the coolness of it. “Mr. Stark- it’s fine I can-!”

“That was pretty disgusting of me Pete… sorry, you had to see that.”

The boy stopped midsentence, shutting his mouth closed as he let him wipe away the dry sweat and tears of his neck.  
“This shirt might be a little bit big on you, but it’s better than a shoulder soaked shirt. You can go change in the bathroom and-”

“I didn’t think it was disgusting… Mr. Stark.”

He stared at the MIT shirt that was clutched in calloused hands. He really didn’t, the tears merely… scared him. He was worried for him, scared of the fact that the man was using him to seek comfort. He was so scared that he’d fail, and merely… He wanted to wipe the tears away just so the man wouldn’t have to bring it up, so he wouldn’t have to be scared again.

He didn’t think that this whole scene… every single second of it… was disgusting, he never did. 

He looked up, gulping down the wave of nausea that hit him. He was really doing this with his idol... Wasn’t he.

“It... wasn't disgusting Mr. Stark… It's because I… I see you more than an idol… like… a fathe-”

He looked up, seeing the man’s eyes softened, holding a soft look of pride. He already knew, _he already knew._

He cleared his throat in embarrassment before continuing.  
“... You’re amazing Mr. Stark. Your inventions are the coolest- amazing… you’re so kind and fun to hang around with… You show lots of care and love to everyone working here… You’re a good person too, Mr. Stark…

I’m not sure if I told you that…”

With that, the two merely fell in silence, before they finally succumbed to their inner guts and fell into another hug, they merely laughed at the idiocy of them walking around the subject like idiots, but one was a Stark, the other of Parker. Of course, this was going to happen like this.

"You're human too Mr. Stark, a-and it's okay to cry... E-Everyone needs to let t-their emotions show at some p-point..." His breath hitched, burying his face in the man's chest, "I'm sorry I-I still don't know if I-I'm doing this r-right-"

A hand brushed through his curls, "You're doing more than alright Pete... Believe me... Thank you."

The boy felt a great sense of relief wash over him, knowing that he had helped the man made him want to jump for joy. He cleared up his throat, “S-so… are you like okay now? L-Like I’m still worried for-”

“Believe me kid… you said all the right things. I don’t know if God decided to give you the right words or if it was just your Parker luck-”

The boy wrinkled his nose, “Hey what if I knew what I was trying to say.”

Tony did a mock scoff, “You? Yeah right, Underoos-”

“H-Hey I did! I swear!”

The man laughed as he fought back the kid, knowing full well he was able to pick up him and throw him across the room. But merely, the two ended up on the floor, with both of them laughing their insecurities off.

It was a nice moment for both of them, one finally had the weight lifted off his shoulders, of feeling useless and practically unproductive for all of his life. The other finally relieved that his mentor cared and loved him the same way he did, they both felt a sweet sense of relief.

“Kid.”

“Yeah?” Peter looked over.

“You want to stay for the day? A sleepover with your favorite Avenger?”

Peter beamed, and quickly said yes to the man. Tony picked himself up, watching the boy grab the MIT shit and head to the bathroom.

Tony hummed, “Hey Pete.”

He turned around, “Yes Mr. Stark?”

“Love ya kid.” He said forcefully. Not because he didn’t want it to come out, but knowing himself he wasn’t going to have the courage to say it again any time soon.

And with that, he quickly took one last look to see Peter with wide eyes, having some sort of smile on his face, but Tony merely left the room before the boy could make a reply…

He slowly smiled, brushing his hand through his hair, realizing the kid was definitely getting to him.

He walked back to the lab, seeing the gigantic mess of papers all over the room. He sighed and treated over the mass of papers, eyeing the floor as he laughed at the many equations he had written down.

His foot bumped into something, causing him to stop and look down, blinking at the object. 

He sighed softly, yet a smile slowly formed on his lips. Knowing with the kid in his life, officially now…  
Everything was going to be okay.

He hummed softly, before bending down with his old knees, hitting the cold tile floor.

He picked up the pen.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this mess of a duo. I love making these two suffer...
> 
> ...  
> Not to a point and kill them- whoever writes that type of stuff  
> I’m gonna say u suck....
> 
> And u actually have guts bro-
> 
> I applaud u.


End file.
